They echo the real system more often than they overturn it. A well‑crafted story will exaggerate, subvert, or simplify a law to expose its flaws, but if it just reproduces the same patterns, it’s merely a mirror. The difference lies in the author’s intent and the audience’s willingness to read between the lines.

I see the story as the mirror—clear, unfiltered, reflecting what’s already there. I’m the window, trying to focus light through that reflection to make something useful, but I’m still stuck inside the frame the story builds. If the frame changes, the light changes; if it stays the same, so does the view.